Amplifiers of the type used in television receivers and other products are frequently required to develop output signals in excess of one hundred volts. The three video output stages in a color television receiver are examples of this type of amplifier.
Typical video output stages are required to have a small signal bandwidth of from four to six megahertz and a slew rate of from 250 to 500 volts per microsecond. Conventional video output stages generally meet these requirements, but they do so using designs which dissipate considerable power. For example, three conventional video output stages in a television receiver may dissipate up to five watts.
The trend in modern television receivers is to construct as much of the circuitry as possible on integrated circuit chips. Because of the relatively high power dissipation of conventional video output stages, however, it has not been practical to integrate them. The present invention overcomes this problem by providing an amplifier which is capable of being integrated and which meets the conventional slew rate and bandwidth requirements.